Betty Thornburg Brown

Wednesday

TROY — Betty Thornburg Brown, devout Christian, dreamer and country girl, died Sept. 17, 2013, after a long battle with cancer.

TROY — Betty Thornburg Brown, devout Christian, dreamer and country girl, died Sept. 17, 2013, after a long battle with cancer.

Betty was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, to Marshall and Madge Thornburg on Oct. 28, 1940.

She grew up on a farm, which is now known as the “Thornburg Tract,” built in 1855 in rural Farmer, N.C. The site, off Lassiter Mill Road, in southwestern Randolph County, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

The U.S. Forest Service purchased the house and 160-acre tract on which it stands from Marshall in 1993.

Betty’s children delighted in her tales of growing up on the farm; her mother cooking on a wood-burning stove, the family not having indoor plumbing until she was in her teens and drinking fresh milk from the family’s cow.

Betty attended Farmer High School where she was a cheerleader and made lifelong friends who were there for her until the end. Upon graduation from high school in 1959, she attended Asheboro Commercial College. In 1962 Betty was swept off her feet by William (Bill) Leo Brown of Troy, N.C., who had recently been discharged from the U.S. Air Force.

Bill and Betty spent the next 51 years together, raising their children and later in retirement, hitting all the best yard sales and flea markets looking for treasure together.

Betty also spent a large part of her life sharing her big heart and warm smile with the children of Troy Elementary School, where she was a teacher’s aide from 1981 until her retirement in 1993.

Every year she would share stories with her family of the children that warmed her heart and every year she would be sad to see them go.

Betty was the rock of her family. She was tenderhearted and doled out lots of love as well as more than a few $20 bills stuffed in front pockets or inside cards mailed with encouraging words. Betty spoke with her children by phone or in person almost every day. No distance could keep her from making sure her family was doing OK.

A graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, at First Wesleyan Church cemetery, 1368 N.C. Hwy. 134, Troy NC 27371. The family will greet friends from 12:45-1:45 p.m. prior to the service at the church.

Near the end, Betty would tell those of us sitting with her that she was ready to go and couldn’t wait to see her mother’s face once again. Her children would like to send her a message: “Momma, we will think of you every day from now until we too get to see you and be in your loving arms once again.”

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” — Abraham Lincoln.

Briggs Funeral Home of Troy is in charge of arrangements.

Online condolences may be made at www.briggsfuneralhome.com.

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